International College Students in the U.S.

The academic year 2008-09, saw the greatest rise in foreign students in America. There were approximately 671,616 students attending U.S. institutions. It used to be that most students that came to study in the U.S. were pursuing graduate degrees. However, now the numbers of undergraduate international students are rising and most of them are from China. The number of Chinese undergrads rose by 60 percent and the number of undergrad students rose by 11 percent.

These figures show that the number of international students is increasingly drastically and it will most likely only get higher. International students bring a lot of money into the economy, plus they get a quality education, and many of them end up staying in the states permanently so they are a great contribution to the American workforce.

But the problem is that many come and then they leave. They receive a quality education and then go back to their homelands to pursue their careers, which is great for them, but not necessarily for the U.S. Another problem is that as more foreign students come to American universities they take the places of American students.Â There are only so many openings at colleges and as more schools take foreign students that means there are fewer Americans receiving a quality education. So the fact is that many international students are being picked over American students because they have the grades and the money; and many American students can’t compete with that.

America is the land of opportunity according to the old saying, but many students don’t have the opportunity to go to college. They either can’t get into a college, they don’t have the money, or they had such a poor education that they struggle in college so they drop out soon after entering. It’s a system that isn’t serving a lot of young Americans, but it does serve individuals that are willing to relocate to America temporarily or permanently.